Finding Alexis
by Gemini96
Summary: Alexis is taken off the street on her way to school. Beckett and Castle have to find her before the kidnapper's threats become reality. Rated T just to be careful.
1. Chapter 1

**This one is a bit longer than my usual stuff, but i couldn't break it up, so i apologise for that. **I've pretty much got the next 4 chapter's written, I just need to edit them and make sure they make sense**. Anyway, Enjoy!  
>Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise<strong>

"You know, you never thanked me."

Kate Beckett put down her pen and turned to look at her partner, "Excuse me? Thank you? All you did was accidentally open the car door as Daniels was running past. It was pure chance that you knocked him out."

"Pff. It was a carefully timed takedown."

"So carefully timed that you actually screamed when he ran into the door," Beckett turned back to the file in front of her.

Castle grimaced, "You heard that?"

"I think half the cops on the lower east side heard you."

Castle sat back into his chair beside the desk sighing loudly, Beckett looked up at him and he held up his hands in a silent apology.

They sat like that for a few more minutes until Castle's phone started to ring very loudly. Beckett dropped her pen and glared at Castle as he frisked his jacket trying to find the source of the noise. Pulling his phone out of his jacket pocket he gave a triumphant "Aha!" before answering the call.

"Hello Mother."

"Richard, have you heard from Alexis? She didn't arrive at school."

"What?"

"The school just rang, they haven't seen her and they're a little concerned, she isn't the type to skip school."

"I haven't heard from her. When did she leave?"

Kate looked up from her paperwork; the tone of Castle's voice alerted her to the fact that something was amiss; she silently beckoned Esposito and Ryan over.

"That was nearly an hour ago." Castle ran his hand through his hair leaving it sticking up in all directions, "She could be anywhere. Have you rung her?"

"It went straight to voicemail."

"I've got to go. I'll call you later."

Having barely tapped the end call button on his cell, Castle quickly pressed number one on his speed dial and was greeted with Alexis' cheery voicemail message.

"Dammit!" he said, pulling the phone from his ear.

"Castle, what's going on?"

"Alexis never made it to school this morning; no one knows where she is."

Kate was a little taken aback by this omission, but she knew that Castle needed someone to reassure him, she could tell by the way he was holding himself that he didn't know what to do, "She probably just picked up hot chocolate on the way to school, lost track of the time and when she tried to ring found that her cell was out of battery."

Beckett saw that he didn't believe her, but the alternative version of events had given him a different story that had a happier ending than the one that was passing through his head, "But I'll ring a few of my buddies, ask them if they've heard anything."

Kate picked up the phone from her desk and typed in the number for one of the cops she had worked with while still on the streets, Castle continued to try and ring Alexis.

"Hey Sammy, how are you? It's Beckett." There was a pause as he replied.

"I'm good. Just a quick question, there haven't been any reports of abductions today have there?"

"When?" Castle's head snapped up, he watched as Beckett looked down at her watch, "Where?" she nodded, and wrote down an address on a piece of paper.

Castle stole a look; it was directly on Alexis' route to school.

Beckett glanced down and saw him turn pale; he quickly jumped out of his chair and pulled on his jacket.

"I'll be there in a minute." Kate said to Sammy as she hung up the phone, she put her arm on Castle's arm, "I'll drive,"

She shouted over the address to Ryan and Esposito, and they quickly followed them out of the precinct.

The drive was over quickly, but to Castle it lasted much too long. He had known in his gut as soon as his mother had rung that something bad had happened; call it a father's intuition.

There were two squad cars and a few cops already there taping off the area and taking statements from witnesses. Beckett flashed her badge when one of them walked towards her with the intention of sending her away.

"Detective."

"What happened?"

"Witnesses say a girl, 16 or 17, red hair was pulled into a black sedan. They say it pulled away pretty fast heading east. We're working on a description of the driver, but it's going to be sketchy, it happened very fast."

Beckett nodded and turned to see where Castle was, she quickly glanced around and saw him kneeling down, holding something in his hand. She walked over and saw it was a watch.

"Is that Alexis'?"

She didn't need him to speak to answer that question, his eyes said it all.

* * *

><p>On the ride back to the precinct, there wasn't a point in time when Beckett wasn't on the phone. She was trying to coordinate with local uniforms and let people know what was going on, she knew that she was going to need as much help as she could get. Castle on the other hand was only ringing one number, he knew it was hopeless and that the likelihood of him getting through was very unlikely, but it made him feel better, like he was doing something. When they did get back to the precinct, Gates was waiting at Beckett's desk for her to fill her in, she knew a few facts but Kate had been rushing when she had rung her up before to ask her to set up a war room.<p>

She pulled Beckett to one side away from Castle, "I know he's your partner Beckett, but I can't have a father who is going out of his mind with worry working on the case of his missing daughter. He's too close to it, I'm a little wary of even you working the case, if I didn't know that you were the best person for the job I'd hand it over."

"I understand, sir, but I can't keep him out of the loop, it'll make him do something stupid. Right now he needs to feel like he's doing something. I promise I will not put his life or anyone else's in danger, but I can't send him home. I just can't."

Gates considered this for a few moments; she understood where the young detective was coming from, "Fine, he can stay. But if he starts to become irrational or if it gets too much, you have to send him home and the same goes for all of you, you all know Alexis, you're all personally involved. Understood?"

Beckett nodded, "Yes sir."

As they parted, Gates went towards her office and Beckett headed for the trio of her friends who were in the makeshift war room Gates had put together. Inside there was a whiteboard and several phones, boxes where piled on the table full of information that could be relevant to the case. Beckett sent silent thanks to her Captain; she couldn't have done better herself.

The group set about populating the whiteboard with pictures of the scene and Alexis. Castle was taken aback at the clinical approach to it all, none of them spoke as they quickly placed pictures on the board and wrote up notes. No one spoke about how it was Castle's daughter that they were trying to find; they had to distance themselves from the case even though Alexis' kidnapping had affected them all too. Castle deserved for them to be at their best, as did Alexis.

The final picture they put up was one of Alexis taken only a few weeks ago by Castle while she was reading. He remembered he had watched her for a few minutes before calling to her and snapping the photo when she looked up. She had an annoyed look on her face but there was a glimmer of a smile. As soon as he had looked at it he knew it was one for a photo frame. But after seeing it placed amongst photos from the scene and writing about possible motives, Castle was a little overwhelmed. He quietly excused himself and sat outside the room on one of the benches. Leaning his head against the wall he closed his eyes and thought about his daughter.

Kate noticed his absence and gave him a moment to himself before following him out of the room. She saw him on a bench and made her way over to him making the old bench creak as she sat down.

"Hey." She said, placing her hand on his knee.

"Hey."

"We will find her Castle, I promise you."

Castle placed his hand over hers, "I know. But all I can think about is how scared she must be, all alone not knowing where she is. I know she's tough, but just the idea of her-" he trailed off, not wanting to mention the possibility of Alexis' death.

"She's smart Castle, she knows what to do, she'll keep calm and she will get through this."

Castle paused a moment before moving the conversation in a different direction, "Kate please don't cut me out of this. Send me home if you have to but don't keep me out of the loop, I've been on the cop side of a child abduction before and I know how it works. I have to know what's happening."

Beckett looked Castle in the eyes, "I promise I will keep you informed of what's going on. But you have to promise me that you'll do what I ask you to, there are other people I have to protect out there and I can't put them in danger, so if I tell you to stay put you have to promise me that you will."

"I will."

Kate sat with him a little while longer before heading back into the room to try and figure out what was going on.

**I'd love to hear your thoughts so feel free to leave me a review :0)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the next chapter, thank you to everyone who took the time to review the story or put it on alert. Enjoy!**

Castle waited a few minutes before going back.

Inside Beckett, Esposito and Ryan were throwing around ideas for who would have possible motive for taking Alexis, so far they didn't have very much, just a list of people Castle had helped put behind with bars with Beckett.

"How about crazy fans?" asked Ryan.

"I have plenty of those." Castle said, perching on the table edge.

"Any of them crazy enough to do something like this?" questioned Beckett.

"Who knows, anything's possible right now."

"Has anything stuck out as being particularly strange in the past few weeks?"

"I haven't had chance to read any fan mail in a while, not with the new Nikki Heat novel coming out, but I can have my publishers send over any mail they've got recently."

Kate nodded, "Okay Espo, I want you to run down any leads on the people who have gotten out of prison recently," she turned to Ryan, "I want you to go through the footage from the traffic camera from across the street."

Both the men nodded and left the room to get to work.

"What are we going to do?"

"We are going to go through anyone who might have a grudge against you in your personal life, that's the only thing we haven't looked into yet."

The both pulled out a chair and sat down, Beckett grabbed a pad of paper and a pen ready to write down anything he said.

Ten minutes and a few names later Ryan walked in, "Hey guys, you've got to see this."

As he pulled up an image on the computer screen, Beckett called Esposito over. Ryan had brought in the video from the traffic camera, he fast forwarded it for a while before pausing it, "Keep your eyes on that street corner." He said, pointing at a section of the screen.

Pressing play, a black sedan pulled up, parked on the side of the road and just waited. The time stamp in the corner said it was ten minutes before Alexis was taken.

"What does it mean?" asked Castle, looking to Beckett.

"It means that it wasn't random, they were targeting Alexis. At least five people who were smaller than Alexis and obviously well off passed them, they would have made much better targets."

"Again, meaning what?"

"It means they're after something specific, maybe money, I'm not sure."

"So they'll call with a ransom demand?"

"Maybe," she turned back to Ryan, "Can you show us the actual kidnapping?"

Ryan looked towards Castle; he nodded for him to do as she asked. Pressing play, Alexis' figure soon appeared on the screen, there was an intake of breath from Castle but he stayed in the room. The car from the street corner made its way to where Alexis was and parked up a few feet in front of her. They waited for her to get closer before someone jumped out of the passenger side and grabbed onto her. Their face wasn't visible on the camera and Kate inwardly cursed. Back on the video Alexis tried to shake them off and looked like she was about to run away when she suddenly stopped struggling and climbed into the back of the car, the person followed suit.

The video stopped and the room was quiet until Castle broke the silence, "Why did she stop struggling like that?"

Every one stayed quiet.

"Come on, tell me. I need to know."

Kate paused for a second before speaking, ordering her words in her head, "My best guess is that he had a weapon of some sorts."

Castle digested this, "A weapon? You mean a gun?"

Beckett nodded.

"Oh God."

Before Castle could fall apart completely, his phone started ringing. He fumbled while pulling it out of his pocket and nearly dropped it, panicking a little. He stopped dead when he saw the caller ID.

"It's Alexis."

"Castle pick up the phone, stay calm, it'll be okay." She knew it was going to be the kidnappers calling with the ransom demand.

Taking a deep breath, Castle pressed accept and answered the call, "Hello."

"Richard Castle, we have you daughter, if you want to see her alive again, you will do as we say." There was a pause in the technologically modified voice's conversation, so Castle pulled his phone away from his ear and put it on speaker.

"What do you want me to do?" Beside him Esposito was trying to get a trace on the call.

"We want 8.5 million dollars in non sequential used bills in three hours time. We'll call later with the details."

Esposito motioned for him to keep them talking, "How do I know she's okay?"

There was an annoyed sigh from the other end and a piece of muffled conversation before Alexis' voice appeared on the other end, "Daddy?"

"Alexis? Are you okay, honey?"

"I'm fine Daddy, I-" her conversation was abruptly cut off, "That's enough talking, you got your proof of life. Now Mr Castle, let me make myself very clear, any funny business and she dies. Understood?"

"Yes, but-"

"Good."

The line went dead.

"Did you get them?" asked Beckett.

Esposito slammed down the phone, "They didn't have enough time to triangulate the signal."

"Dammit," said Castle, "Now we're back to square one."

"Not quite back to square one," said Beckett, "They used 'we' not 'I' so we know that they're a pair in the very least, but I'm thinking this is more of a three man job, one to drive, one to be the muscle, and one to be the brains. I'm guessing we just spoke to the brains. They were also very specific with the amount, does it have any significance?" she directed at Castle.

"It's roughly half of all that I have not taking into account deeds and other investments. It's about half of what I have in my bank account. Why? Do you think they had access?"

"We should look into it." She paused to pace around the room, "You know this is starting to feel like they had inside information."

"Well they didn't ban police involvement," said Ryan, "So they're either amateurs or they know about your partnership."

"I'm leaning towards amateur; this doesn't have a professional feel to it." Kate smiled.

"That's good?" asked Castle

"It means they're going to make mistakes, they've never done this before. Alexis' chances just shot through the roof."

Castle slumped into a chair, some weight from the past few hours left his shoulders.

Kate placed her hand on his arm "Can you get the money together in time?"

Castle looked up, "I should be able to; I just have to ring my banker."

He left the room.

"Okay, let's work this inside information angle. Espo, you run the plates through the system, Ryan see if you can clean up the image of the driver."

"What are you going to do?"

"I need to speak to Gates."

**Thoughts?**


	3. Chapter 3

"Captain I think that it's time we released Alexis' picture to the news."

Gates took off her glasses and placed them on top of the file she was reading, "Isn't that a bit premature?"

"No sir. I think if we do it now, one of them will break."

There was a knock on the window by Ryan. Excusing herself, Beckett went out to meet him, "What've you got?"

"There was no joy figuring out what the person who grabbed Alexis looks like, but you can just about make out the driver. They're female, early thirties maybe, with dark hair."

"Thanks Ryan."

Beckett pushed open the door to Gates' office, "Well?" she asked.

"One of them is female, I think putting Alexis on the news, humanising her, will bring out a maternal instinct. She'll get in touch. But even if she doesn't someone may know something and if we give them someone to talk to, they'll ring in."

Gates thought about Beckett's proposition for a moment before conceding, "Fine, but Castle has to say it's okay."

Exiting Gates' office, Beckett nearly walked straight into Castle, "Hey, I was just coming to find you."

"What did you need?"

"I think that we need to release Alexis' picture to the news."

"Beckett, were you not there when the guy on the phone said no funny business? Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure plastering Alexis' face across the news is the exact definition of funny business."

"Castle, I need you to trust me. Right now the kidnappers are coming down off the adrenaline high of actually taking Alexis. They're sobering up to the situation they've gotten themselves into and right now is when they'll be having thoughts about backing out. We just need to plant the seed and give them a way out. Making Alexis look like a human instead of a pawn in their game might just make them break."

"What if they hurt her?"

"I don't think they will."

"But what if they do?"

"Castle, you have to trust me. Everything from here on out is a risk, but you have to believe me when I say that I honestly think this is the best thing we can do."

"Fine, put her picture in the news, I'll have to ring Meredith though, wherever she is. She deserves to hear this from me and not a news station."

They parted ways each going to make the necessary calls.

* * *

><p>An hour later the station was a hive of activity, calls where coming in thick and fast. So far most of them had been bogus and the few tips that had seemed relevant had turned up nothing. But Kate was still confident that one of the kidnappers would call in, Castle had returned from ringing Meredith a while ago after not being able to get through, he said she hardly ever kept track of her phone but that he had left a message.<p>

Esposito walked over having managed to track down the plates of the car, "It was stolen sometime last night from a parking lot in Manhattan. Any luck with the tips?"

"Nothing yet."

"Detective Beckett, over here." One of the detectives manning the phone lines waved her over.

"What is it?"

"I've just received a tip from a woman that said she saw a black sedan take off towards an industrial estate near the Hudson."

"Did she mention which one?"

"Yeah, I wrote everything down. I think you should go check this one out, the caller wouldn't leave her name but she was a little…strange, she talked quickly and very quietly like she didn't want someone to overhear and she either hung up or was cut off mid sentence."

"Okay, thanks." She clapped him on the shoulder.

"Let's go," she said to the boys as she pulled on her coat, "We have a lead. Espo, Ryan, follow me and Castle."

**I'd love to hear what you think :0)**


	4. Chapter 4

When they reached the industrial estate, Kate didn't get out of the car immediately. Instead, she pulled her keys out of the ignition and turned to face Castle.

"I can't let you come with us."

"Why not?"

"Do you remember before when I told you there were people I had to look after and I couldn't put them in danger with you being so involved with the case? I said there were going to be times when I would have to ask you to stay put. I'm sorry Castle, but this is one of those times."

"Please, Kate."

"Castle, I can't let you come with us. You have to promise me you'll stay in the car; otherwise you'll have to go home."

"What if something happens? I need to be there."

"I will ring you the moment we find something. But you have to stay here; we don't know what we might be walking into and I have to keep you safe."

Castle dropped his head in silent agreement; Beckett took one last look before getting out of her car. She grabbed her vest from the backseat and checked her gun before walking over to Ryan and Esposito who were doing the same thing.

"Are you guys ready?" she asked, they both nodded, "Okay, so I talked to the people that own these buildings and they all have tenants, but they said that two of them are empty at the minute while they're waiting for shipments to come in. We're going to check those out first. Sound good?"

After sounds of agreement from the two men, they stealthily made their way over to the first building.

Entering through an open fire door, they slowly and methodically cleared the building in absolute silence. They didn't want to spook anyone who may still have been there. But after a good ten minutes of searching they hadn't found anything and Beckett suggested that they should go and try the next building.

They walked past where they had parked the cars, Beckett shook her head in response to Castle's questioning look. She prayed that they would find something in the next warehouse.

Esposito had taken the lead and quietly motioned for them to file up against the wall, he had seen a light coming from a small window in the warehouse; he said that it was probably an office.

Without added haste the trio entered the warehouse and once again started to clear the bottom floor of the warehouse. They didn't want any nasty surprises from people sneaking up on them from behind.

After clearing the ground floor they headed up a metal staircase, Becket inwardly cursed her shoe choice for that day as the heels clicked up the steps. Trying to walk on the balls of her feet, she made it to the top and let Esposito take the lead.

Very carefully, he angled himself so he could kick open the door to the office. With one swift kick the door had swung inwards revealing a single chair in the centre of the room with strips of duct tape covering the arms and legs.

Beckett walked over; the duct tape had long straight gashes where she presumed it had been cut with a knife in a hurry.

"We're too late guys." She said holstering her weapon.

Ryan was on the phone trying to get some crime scene techs down to process any evidence that may have been left behind. It reminded her that she had promised to ring Castle if they found anything; she pulled out her phone and left the room, dialling Castle in the process.

He answered on the first ring, "Did you find her?"

"She's not here Castle."

"But?"

"But she was here just a little while ago." Beckett had left the building by this point and was getting closer to her car, Castle hopped out, hanging up the phone.

"What did you find?"

Kate stopped, wondering whether she should tell him, but she remembered that she had promised to keep him informed, "There was a chair with duct tape wrapped around the arms and legs. They tape was cut off in a hurry so I think we can be sure that they've moved somewhere else, somewhere more familiar. We'll track down the owner of the building when we get back to the precinct, he must know something. There aren't any signs of forced entry, so we can probably guess that they had access. But we'll sort it all out when we get back. Ryan and Esposito are going to wait here for the crime scene techs, we'll get going."

Castle was at a loss for words, but he got in the car. He was glad Beckett had made him stay put, seeing something like that would have made him break down. In the car, he rang his mother to fill her in on what was happening. Kate listened to the conversation, finding it strange that Castle was the one comforting his mother not the other way round.

By the time they got back to the precinct, uniforms had managed to track down the owner of the building and were bringing him in.

Castle waited, holding his phone in his hands. Beckett made herself and Castle a cup of coffee, she brought them over to Castle and sat with him a while. They talked about nothing in particular, just passing the few minutes until the cops arrived with the owner.

When they did arrive, Castle made no sign of moving, so Beckett went by herself to show him into one of the questioning rooms.

"Mr Terry, did you rent your warehouse out to anyone in the past few days?"

Mr Terry turned white as a sheet.

"Mr Terry, did you?"

"Um, I err I did."

Bingo, thought Kate, "To whom?"

"I don't know his name; he just offered me five thousand dollars to let him use the warehouse for the next couple of weeks."

"What, you just gave him the warehouse without asking any questions?"

"Look, I know it's a little shady, but my little girl is sick. The insurance company won't pay for her treatment and the guy offered me enough money to take care of her. It was either that or sell the warehouse, I was talking to my lawyers about it, you can check."

It definitely explained the situation, but she was slightly disappointed they still didn't have anything by the way of names. Just for the hell of it, she asked what his legal firm was called; she might be able to do something with it. After getting the name Leonard and Sons she thanked the man and left the room.

Castle was exactly where she had left him; she tapped him on the shoulder, "Castle, have you heard of Leonard and Sons? It's a Legal firm."

By the look on his face, he had, "They handled my second divorce."

"So they had access to your banking information?"

"I would have thought so."

"Hang on a second; I need to make a call."

She quickly found the number for the firm and rang them up. When she got through she explained she was from the NYPD and asked to speak to the person who had dealt with Mr Terry's case.

A woman picked up on the other end, "Hello?"

"Hi, this is Detective Beckett from the NYPD; I'm told that you dealt with Winston Terry's case a few weeks ago?"

"No, that was Patricia. But she's not at work today, so they must have directed you to me. I'm Emily Rhodes, Patricia's my friend."

"Has Patricia been acting strangely the past few days?"

"As a matter of fact, she has been acting a little weird. Really jumpy, she kept getting calls from her boyfriend."

"What's her boyfriend's name?"

"Will something. Erm Will…Jones? I think."

"Okay, and what was Patricia's last name?"

"Hodge."

"Thank you Emily, you've been a big help."

"Sure." Emily sounded a little confused as she hung up the phone but Beckett was glad that they finally had something to go on. They were getting closer and closer to finding Alexis.

**Thoughts? :0)**


	5. Chapter 5

**I couldn't concentrate on homework, so you get a new chapter! The art will just have to wait :)**

Ryan and Esposito appeared sometime later after Beckett had told them to get back to the precinct. Now that they had names to check out, Beckett was feeling slightly more optimistic, as was Castle until his phone started to ring.

"Hello?"

"What did I tell you? No funny business, and yet you went to the cops and little Alexis' face is splashed all over the news."

"You didn't say I couldn't go to the cops, and the fact that my best friend is a detective and she was with me when I found out means that it would have been a miracle if she didn't know. Besides, you took my daughter, and I will move heaven and Earth to find her regardless of whether or not you find it convenient!" Castle was yelling by the end of the sentence and was breathing heavily.

"Finished?" after he didn't receive a reply, he continued, "For the trouble you've caused, I'm moving the deadline up to 30 minutes from now, I want the money in a black rucksack, nothing flashy. Do not plant anything in it, I'll know. I'll call you to tell you where the drop will be taking place soon."

"Can I speak to Alexis?"

"To check she's still breathing?" the kidnapper laughed, but passed the phone over, "Dad?"

"Alexis, I'm so sorry, I love you so much, we're coming to get you."

"I know you are; I love you too."

The phone was once again passed back to the kidnapper, "Satisfied? Remember, you have 30 minutes, make them count." He hung up the phone.

"Espo?" Kate called over.

He was putting his phone down, "We didn't get the direct location, but we got the general area, it's better than last time, but without something else, it isn't enough."

"Ryan, have you found either of their names in the system?"

"Just give me a second, I'm running them now."

Kate walked over to his desk and waited until a driver's licence popped up on screen. The photo showed a dark haired woman in her early thirties, "I'll bet that she was the driver, what about Will Jones?"

Ryan pulled up another driver's licence, Esposito pointed at the address that was on the screen, "That's right inside the zone where the phone call was made."

"They wouldn't be stupid enough to go somewhere we had on file, would they?" asked Ryan.

Beckett shrugged, "It wouldn't surprise me; they're panicking and I don't think that it's a coincidence. Ryan I need you to get those photos out to everyone." She turned to Castle, "Have you got the money?"

"Yeah, my banker dropped it off a little while ago."

"I'll find a rucksack to put it in."

Gates came out of her office due to the commotion, "Something happening, Detective?"

"We're nearly there; we just need to figure out how we're going to do this."

"Can I help?" she asked.

Beckett was touched by her offer, "That would be great. What do you propose?"

"From what I've gathered, you have a good idea of where Alexis is being kept?" Beckett nodded, "Well, if you, Detective Ryan and Detective Esposito go to the address, I'll go with Castle and a couple of uniforms to the drop. We can time our takedowns so it all goes smoothly. Sound alright?"

Beckett nodded again, "Absolutely, Captain."

"Good." With that Gates disappeared back into her office, Esposito stared open mouthed at her closed office door.

"I was not expecting that."

"Just be glad she offered to help, anyway it nice when people shock you, it keeps you on your toes."

The group went their separate ways, Ryan and Esposito to prepare for the takedown, Beckett to find a black rucksack and Castle to grab the money.

After successfully locating an old black rucksack, Beckett helped Castle fill it with the money. It was ten minutes until the deadline and the fact that Castle couldn't sit still showed how nervous he was.

"Castle, calm down, it's going to be alright. We're almost there." Said Beckett, after his fourth lap of the room

Grudgingly he sat down; he placed the phone on the table and stared at it willing it to ring.

His Jedi mind tricks must have worked because the phone did start ring.

"Yes, Hello?"

"Is everything in order Mr Castle?"

"Yes, I have the money, what do you want me to do?"

The kidnapper gave him an address which Castle wrote down, "There's a park just down the street from there, go to it and sit on a bench facing onto the children's playground. Wait five minutes then exit the park heading eastwards. Keep walking that way, do not stop, and do not look back. I'll call you when I have the money to tell you where the girl is. If I see any cops or if there's something wrong with the money, the deal's off. Understood?"

"Yes. How long do I have?"

"You have twenty minutes to get to the park, I'll be watching." He hung up the phone, meaning Castle couldn't ask to speak to his daughter.

"You ready, Castle?"

"I'll have to be. Will you be okay?"

Beckett smiled, "I've got my boys backing me up, don't worry. We'll get her back."

"I know. I'll just think lots of happy thoughts from now until that happens."

"We've got to go; you'll be okay with Gates?"

"Of course, go." He said pointing her towards the door; he got one last smile from her before she left the room.

**Reviews are always much appreciated, especially when i have lots of homework. :0)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry that i haven't updated since last week, i went back to school after half term break and it's been a little crazy :) Enjoy!**

Beckett, Esposito and Ryan made it to the address within ten minutes due to a clever use of the siren, flashing lights and some skilful driving of Esposito's part. They parked up a few metres away from the building, not wanting to tip the kidnappers off to their presence.

The doorman of the building stared open mouthed as he was flashed three NYPD badges from the passing detectives, "No one in or out," shouted Esposito from the stairwell, the doorman just nodded blankly.

The trio quickly made their way up the stairs until they were on the correct floor of the building. Kate didn't need to check the piece of paper she had written down the address on to find the apartment number; she could quote the whole thing from memory. They made their way over to apartment 4B, stacking up against the wall to wait for Gate's signal.

Castle meanwhile had just arrived at the park, he strolled nervously to a park bench facing the children's play area just like the kidnapper had specified and he placed the bag at the floor near his feet. He glanced at his watch to check the time so he could figure out when the five minutes were up. Inside his coat pocket, his phone buzzed. He pulled it out and read the text on the screen.

_I can see you. No funny business._

Castle glanced around to see if he could figure out where he was. He scanned the crowd for the faces he had seen in the driver's licences, but didn't spot anyone he recognised. He watched as the children played in the park, they ran around playing hide and seek and games that they had just made up on the spot. It reminded him of when Alexis was that age, she loved the swings most of all. He remembered her saying that she was swinging so high she could almost touch the clouds in the sky.

Silently shaking himself, Castle looked down at his watch, there was only a minute to go, he couldn't distract himself with thoughts of Alexis, he'd break down right there in the park and that wouldn't help anyone.

Soon enough, the five minutes were up. Castle silently pushed the rucksack under the park bench as out of sight as he could manage, and then got up and exited east out of the park just like he had been asked to.

Gates, who was sat in an unmarked police car a few metres away, told Beckett to be on standby, Castle had made the drop.

They didn't have to wait long for the kidnapper to show up.

Gates didn't recognise the face, so assumed it was the third man, he didn't immediately pick up the bag, instead he sat on the park bench just as Castle had. Only after a few minutes did he pick up the bag, but not before looking around first. He opened it to check the money was there before he zipped it up and swung the bag onto his shoulder. He left the park in the opposite direction to Castle and Gates told uniforms to move in before giving Beckett the signal to go ahead.

As they didn't know if the person in the apartment had a weapon on them or how volatile they were, the team had decided on the way over to try and pick the lock before trying anything as explosive as kicking the door in.

Esposito knelt down and quietly fiddled with the lock on the door. After a satisfying click from inside the lock mechanism, he got up and slowly turned the handle with his left hand; in his right he held his gun.

This part was going to be the riskiest, they were all praying that the kidnapper wouldn't be near the door when they opened it, but were fairly confident that they wouldn't be due to the layout of the apartment. Esposito and Ryan had been over the floor plans while Beckett was sorting out the rucksack for Castle.

Esposito was the first to enter, gun raised. After seeing that there was no one in the hallway, he motioned for the other two to follow him.

They fanned out, each taking a room to clear, slowly making their way towards the second bedroom, which Esposito had pointed out, would be the most likely place for Alexis to be held.

He had been right, the door was slightly ajar and Beckett could just about make out a figure pacing back and forth and Alexis; bound, gagged and a little black and blue, but alive.

Alexis spotted the detectives and gave them a brief nod; she carefully shuffled backwards into the corner a bit at a time so her captor wouldn't notice. Kate inwardly praised Alexis' quick thinking, she didn't want this to turn into a hostage situation and with Alexis in the corner she was much harder to grab. Turning to face Ryan and Esposito she slowly counted down from three so they could all enter at the same time.

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	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry about the horrible cliff-hanger last chapter, I didn't intend to leave it this long, but as usual, school got in the way :0) **

With a quick kick, the already slightly ajar door hit the wall in the room, making the man inside jump.

His hand dived for the weapon that had been shoved into the belt around his waistline.

"Don't even think about it," said Ryan, making the man stop in his tracks.

Kate rushed over to Alexis and quickly pulled the gag from her mouth; she gave a little a whimper but was otherwise quiet. After undoing the duct tape around her hands and feet, Beckett helped Alexis up and pulled her into her arms. Alexis started to cry.

"Shh, sweetie, it's okay. It's over now," soothed Kate, holding on to Alexis tightly.

Meanwhile, Esposito had his gun trained on the man while Ryan instructed him to turn around with his hands on his head. After removing the gun from his waistband and passing it to Esposito, he cuffed him and started reciting his rights.

Kate pulled away from Alexis and wiped the tears from her eyes with her thumbs, "Come on Alexis, let's go," with an arm around her shoulders, Kate lead Alexis out of the apartment and down the stairs. As they went, uniforms and crime scene techs passed them on their way up to the apartment. They had been waiting a block away for the Detectives to get Alexis safely out of the apartment before moving in.

As they exited the building, Kate ushered Alexis towards a waiting ambulance. After passing her to the waiting paramedics, she turned to leave, but Alexis grabbed her hand, "Stay, please."

Beckett nodded and sat next to Alexis on the gurney and held her hand while she was checked out. With her other hand she dialled Castle to tell him the good news.

"Beckett? Did you get her? Is she okay?"

"She's okay, Castle. Do you want to talk to her?" Knowing that he did, she handed the phone to Alexis.

Knowing that Alexis would be okay for a few minutes and not wanting to intrude, Kate hopped off the gurney and went to find the guy in the apartment.

She found him in the back of a police car with Ryan and Esposito standing guard.

"Figured out which one he is?"

"This one's Will Jones, 32, lives in the apartment we just found Alexis in."

Beckett nodded, "Has he said anything yet?"

"Nothing so far, He doesn't seem to want to talk."

"Let's get him back to the precinct. Gates is bringing over the other guy."

"Hey, what about the woman? Where does she fit in with all this?"

"It'll probably all come out when we get them into questioning, but if she's still out there she won't get far, everyone has her photograph."

They talked a little while longer before Ryan and Esposito headed back to the station with Will Jones. Beckett walked back over to Alexis who had just hung up the phone.

"How are you doing?"

"Better." Alexis looked up at Beckett, "Thank you for coming to get me."

"Anytime." She said taking the phone from Alexis, "Besides if I didn't, your Dad would've and we all know how that would have turned out."

Alexis gave a little laugh, "With him on the floor while you cuffed the suspect having saved him from certain death?"

"Hey, it wouldn't happen like that," came Castle's voice from behind.

"Dad!"

Castle was very quickly hugging Alexis tightly, whispering words of comfort.

Not wanting to interrupt, Kate slowly made her way back to her car. There were suspects she needed to interrogate.

Back at the precinct, Will Jones and the other man, who Ryan had identified as Peter Spencer, were in separate interrogation rooms.

"Who do you want to start with?"

Before Beckett could answer, she was called over to one of the desks where a cop was waiting on the phone.

"Detective Beckett? I think we've found Patricia Hodge, what's left of her anyway."

"You mean she's dead?"

"Gunshot wound to the chest, it hit her pulmonary artery; she bled out quickly."

"Where was she?"

"She was behind one of the warehouses near where they were originally holding the girl, there's a smashed up cell phone nearby."

"Okay, thank you." Beckett hung up the phone.

"What's up boss?"

"Patricia Hodge was just found dead with a smashed up cell phone nearby."

"You think she was our mystery caller?"

"I don't think it's a coincidence."

"I'm thinking one of our boys over there did it."

Kate nodded, "I think so too, and I think I know which one."

"Spencer?"

"Yep."

"What's the betting Mr Jones doesn't know what happened to his girlfriend?"

"I think we're about to find out." Beckett walked over to the room with Will Jones in.

"Mr Jones, what happened to Patricia Hodge?"

"I don't know who you're talking about."

"Sure you do," she placed a photo on the table in front of him, "She was the driver and your girlfriend."

"I don't know any Patricias."

"So you won't care that we found her dead a few minutes ago."

Will looked up, "Patricia's dead?"

"Gunshot wound to the chest." She paused, "still sticking to the 'I don't know her story'?"

"She can't be dead, Peter said-" he stopped abruptly.

"Peter said what?"

"He said she'd taken off because she didn't want to do it anymore. He said he'd let her go."

"I'm sorry Will but he didn't, I'm pretty sure that he was the one who shot her."

"I'll kill him."

"Well unfortunately that won't be possible; you're looking at some pretty serious jail time. Unless…" Kate let the word hang.

"Unless, what?"

"Unless you agree to help us."

"How would I do that?"

"Tell me what happened. Tell me why you did it. I'll talk to the DA."

Will thought about it for a minute and then sighed, "Fine."

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	8. Chapter 8

"I grew up with Pete, we went to school together; then college and when we left, we ended up working at the same firm. I mean he's like a brother to me; I'd do anything for him. Anyway, the firm we were working at went bust at the end of last year. We both ran out of money pretty quick after that, no one's hiring."

"Where does Patricia come into all of this?"

"I met Patricia a few weeks before the company went bust, she was nice, you know? Sweet. She helped me out a couple of times when money was really tight. But she only really got involved when Pete overheard us talking one night about money and stuff and we got onto this case she worked on a few years ago where this author was getting divorced and the settlement was in the millions. Pete figured it wouldn't matter if he lost a little of his money, he just needed to figure out how."

"So you came up with the idea of taking Alexis Castle?"

"I didn't, Pete did. I had no idea about what he was planning until he asked me to help a couple of weeks later."

"Why did you agree?"

"He's like a brother to me, I had to make sure he would be alright, knowing him he'd do something really stupid and get himself killed and I couldn't live with that. So I agreed to help."

"What about Patricia?"

"She had access to the information we needed, it was supposed to be a one time thing, but Pete decided we needed three people and he begged me to ask Patricia. So I did, and she said she would, for me."

"Just to confirm for the record, do you admit to kidnapping Alexis Castle with Peter Spencer and Patricia Hodge?"

Will nodded, "Yes."

Beckett got up to leave, "Thank you."

Closing the door behind her she found Gates, Esposito and Ryan waiting.

"That should be enough to book them."

"Great work detective," said Gates, before walking towards her office to call the Mayor to tell him of today's successes.

"Guys, could you process them and ring the DA, there's somewhere I have to be."

"Sure, you go see Castle."

Beckett shot them both a questioning glance, "Where else would you be going? He called a few minutes ago; he and Alexis are back at home."

"Thanks guys."

Thirty minutes later, Beckett was knocking on Castle's door.

"Be right there," yelled Castle from inside.

He opened the door a minute later, drying his hands on a tea towel, "Beckett."

"Hi Castle."

"Come in, come in," he said, standing back and opening the door wider.

"I just came to see how you and Alexis are doing."

"I think she'll be okay," he turned to face her after shutting the door, "For the minute she's just tired, she fell asleep on the couch watching Disney movies about an hour ago."

From where she was standing, Kate could just about make out Alexis' sleeping form covered by a blanket.

"I'm glad she's okay, Castle."

"Me too," agreed Rick, walking towards the kitchen, "Wine?"

"Sure, it's been a hell of a day."

"Well it's over now and I've got my baby girl back safe and sound, that's all that matters."

"I'll drink to that."

They tapped glasses together; Rick didn't take a sip straight away, choosing instead to look at Beckett.

"What, Castle?"

"Thank you."

Beckett looked him in the eyes, "Anytime."

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><p><strong>The end.<br>I really hope you enjoyed reading this, i had a lot of fun writing it. I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who favourited, reviewed or put this story on alert. It means a lot. :0)**


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